On Wednesday 20 September, Pope Francis appointed Father Odair Miguel Gonsalves dos Santos as auxiliary bishop for the archdiocese of Porto Alegre (RS). The priest is a religious of the Congregation of the Mission Province of the South and serves as provincial of the Province of Curitiba (PR), as well as administrator of the Parish of St Vincent de Paul, in the capital of Paraná.
CV and ecclesial career
Born on 2 September 1965, Father Odair Miguel is the son of Miguel Gonçalves dos Santos and Eunice dos Santos (in memoriam), and has two siblings: Ocimar Antônio Gonçalves dos Santos and Odete Aparecida dos Santos Ferreira.
In 1992, he entered the Propaedeutic Seminary in Colombo (PR), studied Philosophy at the Vincentian Institute between 1993 and 1995 and obtained his Licentiate from the University of São Francisco in São Paulo (SP) in 1997. In the same year, he began studying theology at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology Nossa Senhora da Assunção in São Paulo, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theology in 2000. His ordination to the priesthood took place in Irati (PR) on 16 December 2000.
In 2001, he was appointed substitute director of the Philosophy Seminary in Curitiba (PR), then vocations promoter for the Province, a position he held from 2001 to 2005, when he was appointed director of the Daughters of Charity of the Curitiba Province and remained in the post for six years.
Odair was also provincial councillor of the Congregation of the Mission of the South Province between 2005 and 2008; provincial assistant of the Congregation from 2010 to 2013; parish priest of St Anne’s Parish from 2011 to 2016. In the same year he was appointed provincial of the Congregation of the Mission Curitiba Province, a mandate he has held until the present, as he was re-elected in 2019.
From 2017 to 2022 he was president of CLAPVI – the Latin American Conference of Vincentian Provinces. At the end of his term he was appointed administrator of St Vincent de Paul Parish, where he currently exercises his ministry, and on 25 May 2023 he was appointed assistant to the Secretary General of the Congregation of the Mission in Rome.
Greetings to Monsignor Odair Miguel Gonsalves dos Santos
Dear Monsignor Odair Miguel Gonsalves dos Santos,
It is with great joy that we received the news of your appointment as the new auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre (RS). On this occasion, we welcome you as a future member of this Conference.
On the occasion of your appointment, we recall the words of Pope Francis, during his recent trip to Congo, in which he said on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord and the Day of Consecrated Life that: “God opens paths in our deserts and we, ordained ministers and consecrated persons, are called to be a sign of this promise and to realise it in the history of God’s holy people.” Francis also asked, “What are we called to? To serve the people as witnesses of God’s love,” he added.
We would like to encourage you in your new mission and ask you as pastor of this particular Church to have eyes to see the needs of your brothers and sisters, to care for the helpless and all those who suffer, just as our Holy Mother of God, patron saint of the archdiocese to which you are being sent, asks in her prayer.
We pray to the Holy Mother of God that you have a blessed ministry.
In Christ,
Mgr Jaime Spengler
Archbishop of Porto Alegre (RS)
President of the CNBBArchbishop João Justino de Medeiros Silva
Archbishop of Goiânia (GO)
First Vice-President of the CNBBArchbishop Paulo Jackson Nóbrega de Sousa
Archbishop of Olinda and Recife (PE)
Second Vice-President of the CNBBBishop Ricardo Hoepers
Auxiliary Bishop of Brasilia (DF)
Secretary General of the CNBB
